Gordon S Marshall

A soft-spoken El Monte entrepreneur who "started with nothing and was lucky" is donating $35 million to the USC School of Business, the largest cash gift ever made to a business school. In recognition of the gift, which is to be officially announced today, USC is renaming the business school after Gordon S. Marshall, 77, who graduated from the university after serving as a bomber pilot in World War II then made his fortune as one of the nation's leading distributors of electronic components.

A soft-spoken El Monte entrepreneur who "started with nothing and was lucky" is donating $35 million to the USC School of Business, the largest cash gift ever made to a business school. In recognition of the gift, which is to be officially announced today, USC is renaming the business school after Gordon S. Marshall, 77, who graduated from the university after serving as a bomber pilot in World War II then made his fortune as one of the nation's leading distributors of electronic components.

An office supply company, a giant electric utility, a supermarket chain and an old-line construction engineering firm paid their executives more last year than any other publicly owned businesses with headquarters in the San Gabriel Valley, a Times survey shows.

USC has reached its ambitious $1-billion fund-raising goal two years ahead of schedule and has upped the campaign to $1.5 billion in its dogged effort to strengthen the school's standing among the nation's top universities. The five-year campaign was put over the top in recent weeks by a $15-million donation from Starkist heiress Katherine B. Loker to help a USC institute develop fuel cells and other energy sources that are friendlier to the environment.

A pair of Orange County educators, who "worked hard and invested well" while running a private school and other enterprises, has pledged to give $20 million to USC's School of Education. The gift, to be officially announced today, is the largest ever made to an education school in the United States.

When Michael D. Eisner and Frank G. Wells took over as top executives at troubled Walt Disney Co. in 1984, they took smaller base salaries in exchange for a shot at lucrative bonuses and stock options. If they turned the firm around, the bonuses and stock options would kick in and earn them far more than what they gave up in base salaries. Such confidence has paid off handsomely for the Disney duo. The $40.1 million and $32.1 million that Eisner and Wells earned in 1988--mostly in bonuses and stock options--made them by far the highest-paid managers last year in The Times' annual survey of executive compensation at California-based, publicly held companies.

For some business leaders in Southern California, there is no doubt about whether the country is headed for a recession. In a survey by The Times of chief executives of large Southern California companies, 27 of the 28 who responded said they think that the United States has already entered one. Yet the executives are not all doom and gloom. Most said they expect the recession to be relatively mild and to last no more than a year.

A pair of Orange County educators, who "worked hard and invested well" while running a private school and other enterprises, has pledged to give $20 million to USC's School of Education. The gift, to be officially announced today, is the largest ever made to an education school in the United States.

We're in the social milieu of May madness. Maybe benefit chairs fear there won't be a June. Highlights: Bob Hope will receive the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award on his 94th birthday, May 29, at the Beverly Hilton. It's for his "tireless efforts on the front lines of liberty," says Lodwrick M. Cook, chairman of the hosting trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Special guests will be Nancy Reagan and Gov. Pete Wilson and his wife Gayle.

Taking a page from some of the nation's most prestigious universities, Cal State Northridge is offering naming rights to its business school in exchange for a $15-million donation. The matter has been informally discussed for months, but is moving onto a faster track in coming weeks as board members of the Cal State Northridge Foundation and others look to meet new fund-raising goals.

After decades in which business school classrooms were almost interchangeable, university leaders throughout the United States are scrambling to erect spectacular, high-tech buildings they say are necessary to attract top students.